It's time to do the right thing on detention

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Private member's bills could be a turning point in
righting a great wrong if MPs heed their consciences.

Why has Liberal MP Petro Georgiou insisted on putting his
private member's bills to Parliament to release families and
long-term detainees from immigration detention? Having failed to
reach a compromise with Prime Minister John Howard, Mr Georgiou
recognises that indefinite mandatory detention is an
uncompromising, inhumane policy that leaves little middle ground
between right and wrong. Despite Mr Howard's refusal to allow a
conscience vote, anyone who understands the legal and moral issues
knows this to be an issue of conscience. These bills will test all
MPs' commitment to doing what is right, rather than what they judge
to be politically expedient. Labor has been its usual timid self in
tackling mandatory detention, which it initiated when in
government, for fear of being branded "soft". Much more is at stake
than getting "kids out from behind razor wire", which was Mr
Beazley's focus yesterday. This is a test of Australia as a
civilised society, one that defends the right of all people, asylum
seekers included, to just and humane treatment. Those who are
honest with themselves, in their hearts and minds, know this.

The Government has exploited this issue, as Mr Howard reminded
the party room when the few brave dissenters first spoke out. (How
these MPs fare in future will tell us a lot about the character of
today's Liberal Party.) The price of this political success is the
harm done to people who have not been convicted of any crime and
who, in most cases, are genuine refugees. The Liberal dissenters
have exposed the threadbare justifications for retaining hardline
policies after the asylum-seeker boats stopped worldwide.
Backbencher Bruce Baird did so in half a dozen sentences. It is now
human suffering that demands a response. This week an Immigration
Department whistleblower told the ABC the horror stories that have
come to light were the tip of the iceberg. This strengthens The
Age's conviction that a judicial inquiry is needed, at the least.
The powers and terms of the Palmer inquiry were patently
inadequate. Even so, its imminent report looks set to be
damning.

The Government now professes to be concerned about the culture
and mistakes of the Immigration Department, for which department
head Bill Farmer has apologised. This sits oddly with the Queen's
Birthday honour conferred on him. The Age does not accept
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone's attempt to blame her
department. She has had nearly three years to do something about
its culture, which is at one with her Government's hardline stance.
The law, and the deliberate lack of scrutiny of its application, is
the real problem. Indefinite detention without charge or trial is
unconscionable; Peter Qasim's transfer to psychiatric care after
seven years in detention is tragic evidence of its cruelty. Even
the innovation of temporary protection visas is cruel in its
uncertainty. Let's be clear about this: official policy, as it
stands, leads inescapably to the abuse of basic human rights. When
Mr Georgiou's bills are put to Parliament, all MPs of conscience
should support them.